


Curse

by saisei



Series: My Halloween Fic [4]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Curses, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Mind Control
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 10:23:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21251840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saisei/pseuds/saisei
Summary: Noct speaks; Ignis obeys.





	Curse

**Author's Note:**

> For Ignis Whump Bingo Square 2 (mind control), and FFXV Halloween Week Day 7 (prompt: curses).

Gladio didn't notice anything was wrong at first.

"Another day, another exciting new snake monster demon thing to kill," Prompto said, blowing on his gun in imitation of movie stars who looked a lot cooler than he did. Gladio reined in his impatience at their need to mess around, ignoring the way Noct raised his fist for Prompto to bump. He was busy checking the corpse for any body parts that looked salable. The scales, maybe... and if he pried those off, maybe the meat.

"You ready to head back to the car?" Gladio asked when he was done. They were taking pictures now, while Ignis was crouched next to the monster's head, jotting stuff down in his bestiary notebook, making sketches. Gladio knew he sounded angry, even though the reason they'd hung around this blood and gore-spattered field was because he had stuff to do. It was getting late, though, and everyone else was just fucking around.

"Yeah," Noct said, turning toward the road where they'd parked. "Let's go. Come on, Specs."

Ignis snapped his notebook shut and pushed to his feet. He looked like he was supremely done with everything today; Gladio figured getting tossed into the pond a couple of times hadn't done his temper any good. Ignis was like a cat, he hated being wet.

Ignis squelched on the way back to the car, but at least Noct and Prompto knew better than to say anything. No one wanted another toast dinner.

With Ignis behind the wheel, they pulled out of the parking area and turned right, heading north, on the way to the next hunt via a road that conveniently passed right by one of the less shitty motels in Duscae.

"We've got enough gil to pay for a room or two tonight, right?" Noct asked, leaning forward. "We should do that."

Ignis nodded. "Certainly."

Gladio frowned. That was too easy, especially since he knew Ignis had been fretting over their finances last night. Maybe the snake monster scales that Gladio had scraped off were actually worth something? At least, enough to pay for a room.

"We can hardly have a king who reeks like a butcher's shop," Ignis went on. "High time you had a bath."

Gladio snorted.

"Shut up," Noct muttered, leaning back to cross his arms. "Both of you."

"Not so pretty now, huh, princess." Gladio socked Noct in the leg and gave him a grin. "I kind of like it. The grime gives you character."

Ignis didn't say anything. Which wasn't unusual, considering he'd gotten a good insult in. He liked to gloat over the little things; Noct'd have to get him back later.

But as the drive went on, Gladio started to get the impression that something was off. Ignis kept not saying anything. When Prompto asked him to turn the radio on, he simply gestured toward the dials, and he didn't protest when Prompto took pictures of him, either, even though he hated to be seen with his hair down. He said it made him look unprofessional, which Gladio figured meant _young_.

When they parked at the motel, Ignis caught Noct by the sleeve and pulled his notebook out.

"Oh shit," Prompto said under his breath to Gladio. "Finances talk. Noct's gonna go down in flames."

"We're hitting up the shop to sell off this crap," Gladio called to them. "Back in ten."

Ignis waved him off distractedly. He had his pen out and looked like he was going into full-blown lecture mode.

They ate a normal dinner at the crappy diner, greasy burgers and fries, no open friction between Ignis and Noct, even though Gladio was braced for it; Prompto was twitchy, too. If there was trouble big enough that Ignis intended to wait until they were behind a closed door to hash it out, the evening was going to suck.

That didn't begin to describe how bad things turned out to be.

"What the fuck," Gladio said, after Ignis had given a concise explanation of what he perceived the problem to be. Noct had contributed a few sullen sentences of confirmation, but he was sitting back in his chair now, arms crossed and chin down, already prickly and defensive. "How does that even work?"

Noct jerked his shoulders in a shrug. "I tell him what to do. He does it."

"It's a status effect we've not encountered before, I suspect," Ignis said. He sounded a little distant, aiming for an academic detachment, but his gaze kept cutting to Noct nervously and then skittering away. "With your permission, I'd like to start experimenting with antidotes. We should also ask the Marshal – "

"No," Noct interjected, and just like that Ignis stopped talking. Noct froze, and then slumped down further. "This is stupid, I _hate_ this."

"It's hardly an ideal situation," Ignis agreed. He was freshly showered, with his gloves off, and Gladio could see his fingers twitch. He'd had a bad nail-biting habit all through high school, and this was probably enough stress to make him want to pick it up again. Maybe he could get Noct to order him to stop.

What a fucking horrific shitshow this was.

"Are there any limits?" Gladio asked. Ignis winced, as if he'd been expecting that. Gladio looked at Noct, and jerked a thumb at Ignis. "Can you get him to do things he'd never do in his right mind? Tell him to stab Prompto or something?" (_Dude_, Prompto said, giving Gladio a betrayed look.) "Is it literal – if you told him to go fuck himself, would he?"

Noct snorted in dark amusement at that, even though Ignis' expression was alarmed and wary. "No clue – don't kill me for this, Specs, but... go fuck yourself."

Ignis stood, with smooth malevolent grace, and started walking toward the bathroom.

Noct waited until his hand was on the door before canceling the order. Ignis looked murderous when he turned around – and _shit_, Gladio could see through his pajama pants that he was half-hard – but Noct gave him a pleading look and said, "Sorry, sorry," and then, "Forgive me."

Ignis' face cleared, and he gave Noct a slight nod. "Of course."

Gladio felt like he might throw up; Prompto was as pale as the bedsheets.

They stayed up late trying all the antidotes they had, none of which worked, and in the morning Ignis said they should go pay a visit to Kimya's House of Hexes. He announced it in a hearty voice, the same as he always did, confident but willing to accept discussion or criticism.

Prompto's eyes immediately cut to Noct, who opened his mouth, shut it again, and then said, "Whatever."

Ignis looked distraught for a moment before schooling his expression as he nodded.

"We're okay for money," Gladio said. "They use those snake scales to make jewelry. Worth good gil if we ever run into another."

"Wow, nope," Prompto said, a bit too manic and squeaky. "Snakes and me, we don't get along. Never again would be fine by me."

"Yeah," Noct said, unfreezing a bit. He looked over at Ignis. "You want to drive?"

"Certainly." Ignis picked the Regalia's keys up from the dresser. "Shall we?"

Gladio didn't like when his brain told him something he wanted to enjoy was suspicious, like those messages he used to get about bank transfers that'd make him rich (scam, his dad said) or when a ruin looked quiet and deserted and peaceful (trap, his brain supplied). They were on the road with the wind whipping at their hair, the radio on, Prompto taking pictures of cloud formations, and it was really nice. No airships above them, no rain washing the gel from anyone's hair. He could kick back and read his book, leave all the work to Iggy for a while.

Except he wondered why Noct hadn't wanted to drive, especially since it wasn't like Ignis could tell him no now. Noct could speed down the wrong side of the road with both hands off the wheel and Iggy'd let him. The answer that seemed most likely was that Noct knew they were all afraid of what he could do, especially with Ignis behind the wheel, and he liked the idea of not getting hassled in the car.

He was still slouched with his arms crossed, only now he was glaring out the window.

Gladio hated to think that Noct was already getting used to his new power over Ignis and thinking about how to use it tactically. But... despite how much Gladio groused, the kid was clever, and quick to pick up new fighting techniques. He didn't do anything massive like powering the Wall – well, except for summoning gods – but he used magic intuitively in battle in a way Gladio had a hard time imagining King Regis would.

He hoped like fuck Kimya had answers for them.

When they got to her place, she let them camp out for nearly a week, provided they kept the chocobos out of her potions gardens. Prompto volunteered for that duty, eager to keep away from all the tension. Ignis had his teeth examined and blood drawn, his eyes and ears checked, even his gnawed-down fingernails scrutinized. Kimya got samples of his hair and urine, and his willingness to jump through every hoop she held up made Gladio feel embarrassed for him. He didn't show it, but he must be desperate. Kimya was less invasive in her treatment of Noct. Wary of him, Gladio thought, but whether that was because he was the King or just because he was dangerous, he couldn't tell.

She took a couple of the snake scales that Gladio had held on to, and after looking them up (she had a collection of what Gladio would call _tomes_ unironically) announced that she doubted the snake monster was responsible for the curse. She also doubted that it actually _was_ a curse, though her explanation involved forks in roads and doorways opened and _that which was, can be again_. Gladio didn't follow that well. Noct nodded curtly, though, like he got the message and didn't like it.

So they had no solution when they left, which meant Gladio had to speak up.

"Look," he said, pulling up next to Noct's chocobo as they were riding back to the parking area. "Until we figure out how to stop this thing, there's got to be rules. Iggy's not some puppet you can jerk around. It's not just wrong, it's dangerous. His head can't be in the game if he's not free to disagree, or tell you you're being an ass."

"Indeed," Ignis said, though he looked as twitchy as his mount, like he'd much rather run full-tilt into the woods than have this discussion. "Noct... an advisor's _useless_ without the capacity to give uncensored honest advice."

Noct stared ahead at the path, his face closed, and Gladio's heart sank. He recognized the stubborn look of Noct in a recalcitrant mood – great, just what they needed. Still, he asked grudgingly, "What rules?"

"Best thing would be not to give Iggy orders at all. Which," Gladio plowed on over Noct's protest, "_I know_. I'm the one always telling you to step up and act like a king. But you two seem to be okay if you stick to asking questions. Maybe try that."

"That'll work great," Noct said, anger lacing his sarcasm. "I can see us in a fight – _Would you please cover me?_ Or maybe _How about going to help Prompto?"_"

"I can see it, all right," Gladio whipped back at him. "You saying _Go help Prompto_ and Ignis being forced to stop what he's decided is the best action to protect you on the battlefield. Or maybe turning his back on whatever he's been fighting and whoops, no more Iggy."

Noct grimaced. "I'll try, all right?"

"That's all we can ask of you," Ignis said, sounding relieved and reassuring, like he was trying to bolster Noct's mood, the way he did. His eyes still looked nervous, though, and Gladio bet that fueled Noct's anger. Ignis had never been scared of him before this.

In the weeks that followed, Noct did try, in his own half-assed way. It killed Gladio that he didn't try harder; he couldn't understand _why_ Noct would keep pushing at the boundaries of the curse, getting used to it and using it to manipulate Ignis. If something was bad, you left it the fuck alone. He worried increasingly that Noct didn't see the curse as a bad thing.

"Oh, hey, there's a fishing spot here. Pull over, quick," Noct said.

Ignis reacted as if an Iron Giant had appeared in front of them, whipping the Regalia to the side and braking so fast Gladio and Noct bounced off the front seats. Gladio looked back and yup, they'd left skid marks on the road.

In the silence after the squeal of tires, Ignis' harsh breathing was very loud.

"You can't just... do that, Noct," Ignis said, sounding both panicked and infuriated, his hands clenched tightly on the steering wheel.

Noct shrugged, sullen. "I'd have made a suggestion. You'd have argued – but you'd give in in the end, you always do, because face it, you like me. I just cut out the arguing part."

"No, you didn't," Ignis said, grim and intimidating, his eyes flashing with maybe the first genuine anger Gladio'd ever seen him direct at Noct.

"I don't want to hear it," Noct said, like a bratty child, and that shut Iggy up fast. "I don't want you to even think that. Just let me have my way and fucking _like_ it."

_Shit._ Gladio could see Ignis' expression go all muzzy with confusion, before straightening out into a horrible placid smile.

"Shall we go see what lures are available at the shop?" Ignis asked. 

To Gladio it didn't matter that the rest of the afternoon passed in lazy pleasant companionship, or that their dinner of freshly caught fish was delicious and Ignis accepted their praise with satisfaction. Part of him – who he was – had been erased, and Noct didn't care.

The leash Noct had Ignis on was all the more dangerous for being invisible. Gladio could go days not even thinking about it, and then Noct'd say lazily, "Hey, Iggy, I want a burger."

Ignis never protested about having to mind the budget these days. Gladio suspected he'd quickly established a triage of commands, from those every fiber of him resisted – Noct ordering Iggy to slit his throat, for example – to mundane things he resented but ultimately found easier to go along with without attempting to protest.

Burgers and fries.

Fishing holes.

A motel room with a shower after a hunt.

Letting Noct drive too fast with the top down on nice days.

All of these made Noct happy, and even under normal circumstances Ignis would have tried to provide.

But now...

He asked Ignis, while Noct and Prompto were burning through change on the pinball machine. "How bad is it for you? The orders, I mean."

Ignis just stared at him, face expressionless, and then took a long sip of coffee.

Gladio leaned back, crossing his arms. "Not allowed to talk about it, huh." Ignis held his gaze. "It's got to stop, Iggy. It's dangerous."

"We have _tried_," Ignis said, and there was the raw frustration and anger Gladio knew must be constantly on the boil these days. "Believe me, we've attempted everything you can imagine, and more."

"How can you just take it?" A shitty question, but Gladio was curious, like someone driving past a terrible car wreck. Someday, he might be the one with a curse, and... he didn't think he'd bear it well at all.

"I have no choice," Ignis said, voice tight and controlled. "Please end this discussion."

"Or what?" Gladio goaded. "You can't make me. You're the one on a leash."

Too late, he noticed Ignis' other hand, clenched in a fist so tightly that he was shaking. At least his nails were too short now to break the skin on his palm.

"Noct," Ignis called. He looked ashamed and frightened; beaten. "Some assistance, please."

"Busy," Noct called back, but he turned his head to glare at Gladio. "How about no more talking."

Ignis fell silent.

Noct didn't lift the order for close to a week. Ignis passed notes and used gestures, and Prompto nearly died in a voretooth attack because Ignis couldn't warn him to look out.

Gladio got up in Noct's face after that, telling him he was a king and not a sulky little brat.

Noct turned his anger on him, but that was fine. Gladio at least could push back, and push back hard. Just... even that wasn't enough to make Noct lay off Iggy.

After Altissia, Ignis was much more like his old self. He might not have defeated Ardyn, and he'd used the ring with a recklessness that nearly killed him, but he'd obeyed his own desires and orders without interference. He stood straighter, and spoke with confidence.

He worried about Noct, and struggled with his blindness. But while Noct slept he was his own man.

Then Noct woke.

He and Ignis kept having secret meetings behind closed doors, and whatever Noct did ripped Ignis to shreds. He emerged shaking and often ill, stumbling into walls and furniture, confused. Bleeding, sometimes, from his nose or his eyes. Other places, too, maybe, that were hidden by his now-crumpled clothes.

By the time they left, though, Ignis no longer believed he was blind, which was... partially a relief, but mostly a horror.

Gladio was relieved as fuck that they decided to take the train, because otherwise, what? Would Ignis insist on driving and Noct let him? Would they all die because Noct was unable to accept that Ignis had sacrificed his sight to defend him from Ardyn?

"I cured him!" Noct insisted every time Gladio called him out on this perversion of both magic and loyalty. "He's fine now."

The degree to which Ignis was fine depended a lot on Prompto's superior acting skills, as he insisted on holding Ignis' hand or walking with an arm around his waist. He made up a thousand excuses – _the train makes me carsick_ or _this path is rocky and steep_ or _oh shit, it's those water animals with a million teeth again._

Gladio never thought he'd see a day when he'd rather have Prompto at his back than his King.

After Ardyn manipulated Noct into tossing Prompto from the train, Noct somehow planted the seed in Ignis' brain that it was his fault, that he'd let Noct down by not seeing through Ardyn's deception. He locked Gladio out of their train compartment, and Gladio hated imagining what Noct was doing to Ignis in there, when he couldn't defend himself.

What Noct was making Ignis do.

He was glad when they got split up in Zegnautus that he was with Ignis instead of Noct. Even though he was Noct's Shield, and he wasn't there to protect him. He just... he needed Noct to stop fucking with Iggy, because he couldn't make himself stop believing that a King worthy of rule didn't ruin his oldest friend and call it love.

The instant Noct disappeared into the crystal, the curse was lifted.

Ignis' hands shot out; one found the catwalk railing and he clung there as if suffering from vertigo. The other scraped the glasses off his face, revealing one scarred eye that he rubbed over and over, trying to make it work.

Ardyn laughed at him as he passed by, stepping deliberately on his glasses, grinding them to shards.

"Come on, Iggy," Prompto said. "We're good." He was battered himself, and Gladio knew he should step up for the both of them, but – how? Where could he even start?

"I can't see," Ignis confessed in a low, broken voice. "Prompto – why can't I _see_?"

"You're blind," Prompto said. He caught Ignis' hand and pulled it away from his face, chafing it between his own.

"Noct cured me," Ignis protested, looking bereft.

"He lied to you and made you believe it," Gladio said. "You cooked your eyes with the ring, you're not getting your sight back ever. Come on – we need to get out of here before the daemons catch up to us."

*

Through what immense force of will Gladio could only imagine, Ignis hadn't told Noct that the gods had sent him a vision of his death. He only told Gladio a few years after night fell; it took that long for Ignis' trust – in himself, in others – to return.

"The gods demand his death," Ignis said. "And I love him – I always have, since well before he ordered me to. But a part of me dreads seeing him again." He sucked in a breath and then breathed out, in the barest of whispers, "I don't want to want him dead."

*

When they heard from Talcott that Noct had returned and was en route to Hammerhead, Ignis sought Gladio out to say farewell.

"I'm aware I'm being melodramatic," Ignis said with wry humor covering something darker. "But... I doubt I'll be myself much longer."

"You don't need to be here," Gladio told him. "None of us would blame you if you ran."

"I've seen the future," Ignis said. "And my place in it is with the King."

"Imprisoned in your own skull, yeah. We've seen how that goes down."

Ignis shrugged, as if shaking loose the tension that had gathered in his shoulders and back. "He needs me. He needs – well, shall we call it unconditional love?" Gladio opened his mouth to refute that strongly, but Ignis must have heard him suck in a breath because he held his hand up to keep him from speaking.

"I know you don't think of it as love." _Rape_ was the word Gladio usually used, though Ignis refuted most acknowledgments of how little control he had when Noct was around. Gladio didn't push it often: he knew that as sick as it made him feel, for Ignis it was infinitely worse. "For the past decade I've scoured ruins and records for information about Ardyn, about magic in general and that specifically wielded by the Lucis Caelums. Ardyn can appear as another. He can stop time. He does as he _wills_, it seems to me. As he desires, so the world bends."

Ignis took a breath, and Gladio found himself praying for him to not say it, not put the idea out in the world.

"As is true for Noct."

_No_. It made no sense. "Prove it."

Ignis spread his hands. "Has any spell lasted so long, or resisted all potions and elixirs?" He laughed, almost as if he could see the expression on Gladio's face. "Perhaps his grief over his father and Insomnia triggered a need to be loved and comforted absolutely, and he stumbled into the power without realizing.... The spell was clumsy at first, and I know he felt guilty if he pushed me too far. But he will have more practice now, and more control."

"Iggy – "

"Hush. You cannot afford to antagonize him, because we have no choice but to believe that he has the ability to do _this_ to anyone. Make you unable to place yourself between danger and your King if he decides he can't tolerate a broken Shield. Would he bed you and Prompto? Separately or together?" He spread his hands palms up, as if balancing one evil against another. "The power of the gods was never meant for mortals, but he must embrace it as King. I can bear the consequences. After all, I do love him."

*

Noct alighted from the truck. He was thin and dirty, with long lank hair and a scruffy beard. But he carried himself like a king, and Gladio teared up seeing him, despite himself. This was the man he was born to serve. Who he'd die for.

Prompto was just as overwhelmed, unable to stand still, brimming with nervous excitement.

And Ignis waited patiently for Noct to greet Gladio and Prompto in turn before approaching him. When Noct laid a hand on Ignis' shoulder, Gladio saw a shiver go through him, but when Noct said, "Look at me, Specs," he did.

Whatever he saw, with his blind eyes, made him smile, warm and adoring. "Your Majesty." Between one moment and the next, the Ignis Gladio knew vanished, swept away by king's magic.

Gladio saw it happen, and looked away.


End file.
